This evening we will be considering Baptist Catechism question number 35, and I'm going to look to make sure that it is the right question up on the screen, and it is. This is a wonderful question. You have been introduced to it even this morning. It is, what benefits do they that are affectionately called partake of? this life?" And I will have you repeat after me. Adults and children together, this is a longer answer so it will be broken up into many parts here. What benefits do they that are affectually called partake of in this life is the question. And the answer is, they that are affectually called do in this life partake of justification. adoption, sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them. And the Scripture reading for this evening is Ephesians chapter 1 verses 3 through 14. And yes, I know we have just concluded a study through the book of Ephesians, but I think this passage wonderfully expresses the doctrinal principle that we are being introduced here to in question 35. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood. the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things, according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of His glory. I think it is right to call question 35 of our catechism the leading question of yet another section of our catechism. So you're seeing that these little sections, they come and go rather quickly. Questions 26 through 31 told us about how Christ accomplished our salvation in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Questions 32 through 34 dealt with the application of the salvation that Christ has earned to God's elect by the Spirit. And here, beginning with question 35, we will consider the benefits of this redemption. Again, the question is, what benefits do they that are affectionately called partake of in this life? And if you wish to look ahead a little bit in the catechism, you will notice that questions 35 through 41 deal with the benefits or the blessings that come to those who have faith in Christ. Questions 35 through 39 tell us about the benefits that the believers enjoy in this life. Question 40 tells us about the benefits that come to the believer at the moment of death. And question 41 tells us about the benefits that come to the believer at the resurrection. That is to say, on the last day when Christ returns to make all things new. And so this is a wonderfully encouraging section of our catechism. Our catechism aims to open our eyes to see how rich we are in Christ Jesus in this life and in the life to come. And as always, our catechism aims to collect and to summarize the teaching of Holy Scripture, which we have already confessed to be the only rule or standard of faith and obedience. See Baptist Catechism number four. And when we go to the scriptures with the question, what benefits do those who believe upon Christ enjoy in this life, and in death, and in the life to come, we learn that we are very blessed indeed. God has provided for our every need in Christ. He has lavished us with His love. We are richly supplied. We have a glorious inheritance in Christ Jesus. And I believe that knowing this is important for many reasons. But I think it is especially important for the one who is suffering in this life or facing death to know these glorious truths. How will the Christian who is facing trials of many kinds count them as joy? Only by knowing the benefits that are theirs in Christ Jesus in this life and in the life to come. And how will the Christian who is coming to that moment of death face death with courage, and with confidence, and with assurance, only by knowing the benefits that are theirs in Christ Jesus, even at the moment of death. And in my experience, many Christians have a very narrow understanding of the benefits that are theirs through faith in Christ. Many will think only of the forgiveness of sins. Perhaps you have found this to be true. will think only of the forgiveness of sins, and perhaps of the promise of eternal life when they consider the blessings that are theirs in Christ Jesus. What has Christ done for you? You might ask the Christian. And they might say, well, He has forgiven all my sins. Or what do you have in Christ Jesus? And they might say, the hope of life everlasting in Now, please don't misunderstand, it is a very great blessing to have your sins forgiven. In fact, many of the other blessings that we will identify can only be ours because we are forgiven. To be forgiven is indeed a great blessing, as the psalmist himself says, blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity. That is Psalm 32, 2. And it is also a great blessing to hope in heaven. That is to say, in life, in the world to come. Peter speaks of this when he says, but according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. There, Peter is talking about this hope that the Christian has in the life to come. And so by no means do I intend to minimize how blessed it is to have the forgiveness of sins and the hope of life everlasting. I am simply saying there is more. We have been blessed with more in Christ Jesus than this. And I think our catechism does help us to see that we are rich in Christ. There are not one or two benefits that come to us when we believe upon Christ, but there are many. And some of these we enjoy in this life, others we will enjoy at the time of death, and still others we will enjoy at the resurrection and in the world to come. And so I want to consider question 35 and the answer that is given here piece by piece with you. What benefits do they that are affectionately called partake of in this life? In other words, what blessings do those who have faith in Christ enjoy in this life? And the first benefit that is mentioned, you will notice, is justification. I think it's a very important term for us to learn. It is a theological term. It is a biblical term. We enjoy the blessing of justification. And I will not say too much about justification tonight, for you will notice that question 36 of our catechism will ask, what is justification? And a very thorough answer is provided there. And we will come to that next week, Lord willing. But for now, learn the term justification. It is a legal term. To be justified means to be declared not guilty. And so I think you may picture a judge making that declaration as he pounds his gavel. Not guilty, he says. And I think we should imagine the relief that those words would be to one who has been accused. To hear that declaration, that legal declaration, not guilty, must be a tremendous relief to the accused. And in Christ, we are justified. This means that we are pardoned, that we are declared not guilty by the judge of all the earth. In Christ, we escape the punishment of eternal damnation. As I have said, justification is not just a theological term, it is a biblical one. In Romans 8.30 we read, And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. And in Romans 3.23 and following we read, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by God's grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And so justification is a benefit that we receive at the very beginning of the Christian life. The moment we turn from our sin to trust in Christ, it is then that we are moved from standing guilty and condemned before God to being innocent in His sight. All of this is by the grace of God and all of this is because of and made possible by the merits of Christ alone. Justification is not progressive, but it is absolute. And by this, I mean that we do not grow in our justification. We might grow out of it in terms of working out the implications of it, but we do not progressively grow more and more justified in the Christian life. But it is an absolute thing. The one who has faith in Christ is justified. We are not justified more and more over time. We simply are justified if we have faith in Christ. And you will notice that justification is listed as the first benefit. And I think there is a reason for this. None of the other benefits that we will talk about could possibly be ours apart from justification. Guilty persons who stand condemned and deserving of God's wrath cannot be adopted as his children, for example, nor can they be made holy by the Lord progressively. The guilt of sin must first be removed, and so it is for all who are effectually called. Those who have faith in Christ are justified. They're declared not guilty by God the judge. Adoption is listed as the second benefit you will notice. And again, I will not say too much about adoption tonight, for if you look ahead in our Catechism you will see that question 37 will ask, what is adoption? And a more thorough answer is provided there. And we will come to consider that question in two weeks, Lord willing. But for now, learn the term adoption. We are more familiar with this term. We might even use it in our day-to-day speech. Adoption, you will notice, is not a legal term, but it is a familial one. When you think of adoption, you do not imagine a judge with a gavel, but the relationship between a father and a son. Now, of course, even adoption has a legal basis for it. A judge might be involved in that process of adoption as we think about it in an earthly sense. But ultimately, to be adopted is to be brought into a family. And so, whereas the term justification is legal and may seem cold, the term adoption is familial. It is filled with warmth. It is filled with love. And so already, I hope that you can see why I have warned against reducing salvation down to the mere forgiveness of sins. Indeed, if you are in Christ, you are forgiven. And indeed, it is a great blessing to have your sins forgiven. But if you are in Christ, you are not merely pardoned. You are not merely a pardoned sinner. In Christ, you are more than that. You are a beloved child of God. And so think of how that changes things. Not only do you stand innocent before the judge of all the earth, but you also have God as your father. He has set his love upon you. He has given you his name. He cares for you. He has promised to never leave you nor forsake you. And He has the power to bring you safely home into His heavenly kingdom, where Christ has a room prepared for you in His Father's mansion. And so as you sojourn in this world, you are invited to speak to your Father in heaven through prayer, and you are comforted by your brothers and sisters in Christ who have been adopted into the same spiritual family through their union with the same Christ. Do you see how this doctrine of adoption changes the feel of things a bit? You are forgiven, and that is a great blessing. You are pardoned, but you are not merely pardoned, as if God has just made you a not guilty person and has left you to sojourn alone in this world in this cold sort of legal way. Much more than this, we have been brought into the family of God and we have God as our Father. It is a beautiful thought. We have had the love of God set upon us. Thirdly, they that are affectually called do in this life partake of justification and adoption. And now we say sanctification. And again, I will not say too much about sanctification tonight. For if you notice question 38 will ask, what is sanctification? And a more thorough answer is provided there. And we will come to that in three weeks, Lord willing. For now, learn the term sanctification. Justification, adoption, and sanctification are mentioned as these benefits that come to those who have faith in Christ. You have noticed that I have encouraged you to learn these terms. Why have I emphasized that? I believe that learning new and biblical terms is, in fact, a very important part of discipleship. For some time now, the trend within the evangelical church in America has been to do away with biblical and theological jargon. Have you noticed this? This trend has been growing for quite a long time. Don't use theological jargon, it's off-putting to those seekers, right, is the idea. But in general, I think that is a mistake. One of the ways that we grow in our understanding of a particular subject is to learn the terminology And knowing the truth of scripture will require us to learn new terminology. Justification, adoption, and sanctification are three terms that we need to learn, even now, and even for those who are very young in age. Learn these terms. It will help you to understand how rich you are in Christ Jesus as you begin to grasp the concepts that are here being presented in these terms. If justification is a legal term, and we are to imagine God as judge, saying not guilty. And if adoption is a familial term, and we are to imagine God as our loving Heavenly Father, perhaps we might say that sanctification is a religious term. To be sanctified is to be set apart to God and made holy. That is what it means. To be sanctified is to be set apart as holy. And sanctification may be considered in two ways. One, there is positional sanctification. And this kind of sanctification is not progressive, but like justification, it is absolute. The moment you believe upon Christ, you were set apart from the world and made holy unto God, having been washed in the blood of Christ. God's name was set upon you. You belong to Him and He belongs to you. And so in this sense, sanctification is absolute. But sanctification might also be called progressive. And here we are referring to that process of maturity and growth in Christ, the process of becoming more and more holy in our thoughts and in our words and in our deeds. And I think this is typically how the word sanctification is used in reference to this progress that we are to see in the Christian life, where we grow up in Christ, where we mature, where we learn to obey Christ more and more consistently in the whole of life, where we are refined in Christ Jesus by His Word and Spirit. So here is a question for you. Will the one who has been effectually called, that is to say, the one who has faith in Christ, will that one be sanctified? And the answer is yes. He has been sanctified positionally, that is, he has been set apart as holy unto the Lord by the Spirit, and he will also be sanctified progressively. says in Philippians 1, 6, and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." I think we would imagine progress being made there in the Christian life leading to that grand finale, that day where all things will be brought to completion when Christ returns. And this is why Paul commands the believer to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. This is a part of that process of sanctification where we more and more learn to put off the old self and to put on the new that is ours in Christ Jesus. All who have true faith will be sanctified. They have been positionally, and they will be progressively, but the progress might be slower for some than for others. We know this to be true. Lastly, our catechism mentions the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them. That is from justification, adoption, and sanctification. And again, I will not say too much about these several other benefits that are mentioned here tonight. If you notice, question 39 will ask, what are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification? And a more thorough answer is provided there for us so that we might think more carefully about these other benefits that are alluded to here in question 35. We will come to that in four weeks time, Lord willing. But for now, simply notice that a distinction is made. between these three fountainhead benefits, as I will call them, and the several other benefits that flow from them. A distinction is made. These three things are mentioned, justification, adoption, and sanctification, and they are treated as primary benefits or fountainhead benefits, and these other benefits that are alluded to, they either accompany them or will flow through them. flow from them, rather. And so why this distinction? Why are justification, adoption, and sanctification given this privileged place over these other benefits that are said to flow from them? And I think the answer is this. All who are united to Christ by faith, all who are united to Christ by faith receive justification, adoption, and sanctification. There are no exceptions. Every true believer is justified, every true believer is adopted, and every true believer is sanctified and is being sanctified by the Lord. No true Christian is lacking these things. But when we come to the benefits that flow from them, We will notice that not all who are united to Christ by faith have these, or some may have them, but only to a certain degree. They are, to look ahead a bit, assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end. Some of these things all believers do certainly have, but not all have them to the same degree. These benefits which accompany our flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification are available to the believer, but not all have them, or at least not to the same degree. Some, for example, they do struggle to feel assured of God's love for them. I have met many Christians like this. They have sincere faith. They have all the reason in the world to believe that they have been justified, adopted, and sanctified. But when it comes to their sense of assurance, this inner sense, knowing that they are indeed a beloved child of God, they struggle with that. And there might be many reasons for that struggle, and we will not talk about them tonight, maybe another time. But they struggle with this sense of assurance. Can they be assured of their salvation? Yes, it is possible. Should they pursue assurance? Of course, they should. But they do not all have it. Some lack this sense of assurance. Others lack peace. They are anxious and not at peace. Some lack joy. And again, many factors may contribute to the lack of these things, but we will discuss those in the weeks to come, Lord willing. For now, let us rejoice at how blessed we are in Christ Jesus. God has provided for our every need in Him. In Christ, we are well supplied. Are we forgiven in Christ Jesus? Yes, we are. Is that reason to rejoice? It certainly is. It is a great blessing to be forgiven. Do we have the hope of life with God in heaven for all eternity? Yes, we have that hope. And we should rejoice in that hope, certainly. But there is so much more to discuss. Our catechism doesn't even touch it all. But it does begin to open our eyes to this reality that in Christ, we are rich. God has lavished his love upon us. And so therefore we have all the reason in the world to rejoice. I chose to read from Ephesians 1 at the beginning of this sermon because in that passage the apostle seems to get carried away with excitement. concerning the blessings that are ours in Christ Jesus." I don't know if you got the sense of that as I read that passage. It's now very familiar to us because we have studied the book of Ephesians and I've read it many other times as well in other sermons. But as you read the passage you almost get caught up with Paul. There is this sense of excitement concerning the blessings that are ours in Christ Jesus. It's as if he at the very beginning of that epistle erupts with praise. saying, "'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.'" And then he goes on from there to speak of our election in Christ, our adoption in Christ, our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, and our sure inheritance which is sealed by the promised Holy Spirit. Paul was certainly wanting to impress upon the minds of the Ephesians just how rich they were in Christ Jesus. And how important it is for you and I to know these truths. To know for certain about these benefits and to be sure of them. It is important for us to know these truths at all times, but especially in times of tribulation. Perhaps you have found this to be true. In times of distress, in times of trial and tribulation, it could be so easy for us to fixate only upon what is wrong. But the Holy Scriptures time and again encourage us to lift our eyes heavenward and to look to Christ and to see that in Him we have all that we need. This is what will cause the believer in times of tribulation to pronounce blessings upon God, to praise Him, to praise Him even when life grows very difficult. Let's bow together for a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for all that is ours in Christ Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, the hope of life everlasting, but these many other benefits too. We thank you that we have been declared not guilty, that we have been adopted as your beloved children through the only begotten Son of God, and that we have been and are being sanctified even now. Father, we are thankful that we can be assured of your love for us. Romans 8.35 comes to mind. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? And we say, Lord, know in all of these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. We thank you that you have set your love upon us and that we could live with confidence in this world and with joy and with peace. Father, help us to do these very things, to know for certain that we have these three benefits that we have mentioned, and also to enjoy the several other benefits that do accompany or flow from them. Lord, help us to enjoy these benefits and to give you praise always. It's in the name of Christ that we say these things and all of God's people say, amen.